


let me in, unlock the door (i never felt this way before)

by bytheseas



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, M/M, One-Shot, and watched, basically this is my ode to all of the soft teen romances i have ever read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 11:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20470607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bytheseas/pseuds/bytheseas
Summary: Two boys from two very different worlds bond through impromptu screenings of Romantic Comedies:  A Rose Video teen AU.





	let me in, unlock the door (i never felt this way before)

**Author's Note:**

> First thing I've written in quite a while -- hope you enjoy! I can't believe how many fics there are on here now based on the lives of these two crazy kids, it's so wild and wonderful. And also a little intimidating, for someone who jumped into writing for this fandom when the fic count was at 3. 
> 
> Also between movie references and show timelines and when Rose Video would have closed I couldn't even tell you what year this little AU would be set in, so suspend your disbelief plz.

Some days David browses aimlessly up and down the aisles of his dad’s video store, looking for something to spike his interest, but today he knows just what he’s looking for.

There’s something about watching Elle Woods conquer the world that makes him believe that maybe someday he will be able to do the same, just maybe. 

He breezes past the register at the front without even looking to see who is behind it, grabs his movie off the shelf, and heads for the door. 

He would have walked right out the door, too, if a boy about his age didn’t decide to plant himself right in front of it. The guy’s arms are crossed over his chest and his eyebrows are raised. “You do know you have to pay for that right?” His expression is a challenge and David _ should _ hate it, because who is this kid to tell him what he has to pay for in his own family’s store? But he’s actually really distracted by how cute the guy is, so his reply lacks a little of the bite that it should probably have.

“Okay, hi, um,” He looks at the guy’s name tag. “-Patrick. Okay, you’re new here so I won’t hold this against you or anything, but I’m David Rose. As in, Rose Video. My dad owns all of this,” he gestures in circles around the store. “So I don’t have to pay.”

He expects the guy to back down right away, but he looks conflicted. “I think I should call my manager and check.”

No. Nope. This is _not_ what David needs. He can feel the panic rising, and before he can hold them back, the words start coming: “Oh god, no. I don’t need my dad to know I’m here, and if you call Drew he will know for sure because that guy cannot keep his trap shut. I was supposed to go to this dinner with my mom and the producer of _ Sunrise Bay _, but every time I spend any time with him he tries to get me to go on the show and I get it because I do perform with my mom and I did go to theater school in elementary and admittedly we’re great at it, but being her son in real life feels like enough. I’m just not in a mental place to be her on screen son as well. And if I start I think I’ll bel locked into the tv life forever and I’m not ready for that,” David can hear his voice getting louder and more panicked by the second and his hands are moving everywhere, but he can’t slow this train down once it’s started. Patrick is just kind of staring at him and blinking. “Please,” David pleads again. 

“Okay, well in the interest of you not becoming doomed to a life of show business, I guess I can let this go,” Patrick says, moving away from the door, and David sighs with relief. “I’m just going to write down the name of the DVD okay.” He gently pulls the DVD out of David’s hands so he can read the cover. “This looks fun.” 

“You’ve never seen it?” 

Patrick just shakes his head.

“You work in a video store, and you haven’t seen _ Legally Blonde _?”

Patrick shrugs, and smiles. “I guess I missed that day in employee orientation.”

He’s joking, but in David’s opinion, being well versed in the classics of any genre should be part of the qualifications to work here, but it’s probably asking too much. But still. “Okay, well, you’re missing out on a timeless classic,” He looks from Patrick to the DVD that’s still in his hands, and he really should be headed home right now but he doesn’t want to go back just yet, and something about this boy makes him want to hang around for a while. He takes the DVD back, grabbing it out of Patrick’s hands. “You know what, we’re going to solve this now. Whatever else you have going on is just going to have to wait.”

“Whatever else just so happens to be keeping your dad’s store in business, but okay,” 

David waves that thought away with a hand, as he pulls the DVD that plays the Rose Video commercials on loop out of the TV by the counter, and puts his own in. “You won’t be his first unproductive employee, trust me.”

\----

“So what’s going on today? Gala you need to avoid?” Patrick’s standing nearby, as David scours the shelves, weighing his options. 

This isn’t the first time he’d crashed Patrick’s shift since that day they met. It had become something of a pattern. He would end up here without even really thinking too much about it, whenever he was avoiding something. They've become friends, in a way. David doesn't talk to people, as a rule, but Patrick has somehow become an exception. It's easy in a way that most things in David's life aren't. 

“I’m supposed to be in a tutoring session right now but he kept talking about how hot my sister is so I _ may _ have slipped out when he went to the bathroom,” David hands a stack of DVDs to Patrick, as he continues browsing. He’s feeling especially indecisive.

  
“So skipping out on a chance to improve your grade seemed like the best option?” Patrick’s smirking as he says it, because he’s just _ waiting _ for David to react, and David should really find that annoying, but for some reason he doesn’t.

“Yes, actually it was the _ far _ better option,” David says emphatically, as he adds another movie to the stack. “And my grade isn’t that bad. It’s a perfectly respectable B.”

“I thought you went to a fancy private school -- isn’t a B basically an F in your world?” Patrick adds a movie to the stack.

“If my parents cared about grades, maybe,” David can’t say that his parents have ever even looked at one of his report cards. 

Once they’ve finally chosen a movie, he realizes he forgot to eat dinner in all of his panic to rush out the door. “Do you have any food? I’m starving.”

“Nope, already ate my sandwich before you got here.”

David groans and lets his head fall to the counter. “I’m _ so _ hungry though.”

Patrick laughs and pats his head, and he actually plays with David’s hair a little before he pulls his hand away. No one ever touches him like this, so gentle and familiar. It feels so nice, but then of course Patrick has to say something annoying and sarcastic: “I think you’re going to make it through this.”

It’s probably a weird time to realize this because Patrick’s currently laughing at his misfortune, but David’s not quite sure he’s liked anyone as much as he likes Patrick Brewer. 

David lifts his head just enough to shake it. “Not gonna make it. Fading fast.”

Patrick sighs. “I’ll get you a sandwich. What kind do you want?”

Okay. Yeah. He’s definitely sure he’s never liked anyone this much.

“My hero,” he says, lifting his head from the counter and smiling, and he’s probably imagining it but for a moment it looks like Patrick’s cheeks are tinged with red.

\----

“So the next movie she has an entirely new love interest, and there’s no Michael?” They’ve just finished Princess Diaries, and David decided to share this fact as the credits roll, and Patrick isn’t handling it well.

“That’s right.”

“He loved her for who she was. He fixed her baby. He came to the ball. _ Her heel popped when she kissed him _. All that, and they don’t last?”

“Correct,” He gives Patrick an odd look. “You’re really upset about this. You know things don’t always last forever. Things usually _ don’t _ last forever.” 

Patrick nods. “I know things don’t always last forever. But I don’t watch rom coms to be reminded of that.”

“Me neither,” David pats Patrick’s hand as he gets up. It’s time to get out of here before he does something dumb like hug this earnest, weird boy who believes in love. He gives Patrick a wave and heads for the exit. 

“Sometimes things do last, you know.” 

David hears the words as he reaches the door. He looks back at Patrick. “I’m glad you believe that.”

  


\---- 

One night, David comes in with no reasons or excuses. He just silently finds a DVD and puts it in, and starts watching.   
  
Patrick sits next to him, and silently hands him a chocolate bar, and David didn’t plan on telling Patrick what has him in a mood, but it comes out anyway. 

“So, there was a big party tonight. Everyone in my year is there right now, and I wasn’t invited,” David says, eventually, not even looking away from the screen. 

“Well, that’s, um, their loss,” Patrick says, after a moment, then adds: “Maybe it was an oversight?” 

“No, it was definitely intentional,” David takes a breath and falls silent for a moment. It was humiliating, hearing mentions of the event from classmates -- from his own sister, and knowing he wasn’t a part of the group. “Believe it or not, not everyone thinks I’m great. They like the money and the favors but they usually get tired of my whole _ thing _,” David makes a vague, circling gesture towards himself, and sighs. He stares at the screen and tries to pretend he hasn’t just given Patrick quite so much embarrassing information. 

“Well, David, for what it’s worth I think you’re great,” Patrick says, a moment later, and he’s so _ earnest _ that David wants to believe him. 

“That’s um, very nice of you,” he smiles, awkwardly, but Patrick goes on: 

“I mean, you’re kind of bossy and you’re always eating all of my food, and there’s a _ strong _ chance you’ll get me fired one of these days, but you’re great.”

David rolls his eyes but he’s fighting a smile. “Okay, okay, I think that’s enough.”

It’s after the movie starts when Patrick says a little more. “If I ever throw a party, you’ll be first on the list.”

David just stares at him for a moment, searching his face, and he’s surprised that he doesn’t doubt that it’s true. Somehow, this beautiful boy likes having him around _ that much _. “I appreciate that,” he falls silent, and turns his attention back to the movie. 

Before he leaves that night, he throws caution to the wind and throws his arms around Patrick in a hug, because he’s just tired of resisting the urge, and Patrick hugs him back. All David can feel is Patrick’s hair on his cheek and his hands on David’s back and it’s just a hug but it's completely overwhelming. Eventually David pulls back and he’s gone, out the door. 

He stands outside the door for a moment once he’s out, willing his heart to stop beating so fast.

His heart doesn’t listen.

\----

It’s nearly a month before he’s able to get back to the video store. His mom takes him on a press conference and his sister almost gets kidnapped, and the time between feels like forever, but eventually he makes it through the door.

He could have called Patrick in the time between, but he kept putting the phone down whenever he picked it up, and the time between brought all kinds of doubts. Without the frequent reminder of the way things are when they're together, it's hard to believe that Patrick actually likes spending time with him. Maybe, Patrick wouldn’t even mind the time and space -- maybe he would welcome it. Maybe he only put up with him out of some sense of obligation. 

No one is at the counter when David walks in, so he walks over to the rom-com aisle, and starts browsing. Eventually, Patrick finds him, and when David looks up, he’s leaning on a shelf nearby, watching him. 

“Haven’t seen you in a while -- figured you got bored of me and my lack of timeless classic film knowledge and found someone cooler to hang out with,” Patrick’s tone is casual, but his face betrays him. 

He's _hurt_. 

David's heart clenches.

“I really like you. I wouldn’t do that,” David says quickly, because Patrick can't think he would ever do such a thing, he can't have him thinking that. But then he realizes what he said and his eyes go wide for a moment and he looks back at the DVDs and his next words come as an onslaught, as if to chase the previous ones away. “It’s been a crazy few weeks. My mom had this press tour that she insisted I go with her on for some reason, even though she had to pull me out of school to do it, and then my sister had this whole stalker situation that I had to handle, because no one else seemed concerned about it.” 

He wants Patrick to call him on it. He wants Patrick to ignore it. He wants to know if he’s the only one who feels this way, but what if he _ is _ the only one who feels this way?

  
He feels raw and exposed and his heart is beating like crazy.

Patrick steps forward, just a little.

“What was that first thing you said?”

  
Oh, god.

“My mom made me go on this press tour with her, it was so annoying-”

“No, before that.”

“I, um, I don’t remember?” 

“You said you like me.”

He could take it back. He could. 

He _ can’t _ take it back.

Maybe Patrick doesn't feel the same way, but he can’t take it back.

“Oh, I did. Was that too much? It was too much. I’m-”

Patrick steps a little closer, until he is so close they’re only a breath away, and David stops talking.

“David, I like you too.” It comes out in a breath, quiet, but unmistakable. “I like you a lot.” All this time David has been willing his feelings away, telling himself there was no way they were feeling the same way, when really they were. He’s an idiot. They’re both idiots. 

Maybe they’re both waiting for Patrick to chase this with something else: a quip, a joke, but he doesn’t. He just stands there, a breath away from David, watching, eyes wide. 

David smiles -- he can feel himself beaming, and it’s the easiest thing in the world to pull Patrick forward by the collar of his stupid Rose Video polo, and kiss him. Patrick laughs but then he kisses David back, hand on the back of his neck, holding him close. 

It's perfect. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i'm at @aziraphalescrowley on tumblr - come find me if you want! <3


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